


She's got the velcros

by blcwriter



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Gen, POV Nile Freeman, Sam Vimes' Boots Theory of Economics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26613763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blcwriter/pseuds/blcwriter
Summary: The Nile-POV ensemble Thrift Shop montage, with a side meditation on money and how to spend it.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	She's got the velcros

“Next time,” Andy says, grunting with effort in the next changing room, “don’t shoot yourself in the foot.”

“Good boots are important!” Joe chimes in, from the opposite side. 

It’s a little ironic that the people who just ransacked this secondhand store are telling her to spend serious money on boots, but there it is. They contain multitudes, Nile guesses. 

When she emerges from the dressing room, Nicky is wearing pleather pants and a sequined shirt, and is wagging his eyebrows at Joe, who’s wearing a head-to-toe green Adidas tracksuit and a backwards ballcap.

“OK, [tracksuit mafia](http://www.comicbookreligion.com/img/t/r/Tracksuit_Mafia_2.jpg) and club kid-- those outfits are much more inconspicuous,” she remarks, then shoots herself finger guns in the full-length mirror for the sweet [Esprit sweater-skirt set](http://www.liketotally80s.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/esprit-super-bright-outfit.jpg) and leggings she found. She looks incredible. Now if she could only find some Keds, she’d be all set.

“This’ll do,” Andy remarks-- she’s emerged from the dressing room in a [floral dress](https://www.resee.com/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/45a692dab1822e736fbd9896d0d6394d/v/i/vintage-u-laura-u-ashley-u-classic-u-floral-u-day-u-dress.jpg), topped with a black leather jacket and her lace-up black boots.

“You look like a butch Laura Ingalls,” Nile blurts out before she can stop herself. “Don’t you only wear neutrals?”

The corner of Andy’s mouth quirks as she deadpans, “Florals are a neutral, no matter what anyone tells you.”

“And plaid is a color!” calls Nicky, who’s disappeared back into his dressing room, only to emerge in one of those Brooks Brothers-y [multicolored striped shirts](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cd/a2/aa/cda2aa4d4c53003c8790720ed7a774d9.jpg), a green and yellow silk fucking neckerchief, and bright blue corduroy pants. Oh, and red suede chukkas. _Italians._

“No, seriously though-- you guys’ve been wearing the most boring clothes, I thought I was the only one with a sense of style.” Nile goes back inside to try on the [other Esprit sweater](https://img0.etsystatic.com/051/0/7251428/il_fullxfull.720371276_t7zv.jpg) and some stretch acid-wash jeans that look like they might fit.

“If your clothing will only get spoiled, it doesn’t make sense to buy something new,” Joe says more seriously. “But it’s important to blend in wherever you are, and we are staying a while.”

Nile nods at that logic, then grins as she buttons the jeans-- her butt looks great. 

“Here,” Andy says, shoving her hand through the curtain. “Complete the outfit.”

It’s a pair of [white Reebok freestyles,](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/271736202732-0-1/s-l1000.jpg) in what looks like near-mint condition. “Andy!” she yelps. She tries them on, and they’re fucking awesome. It’s going to suck to have to put her bullet-holey, blood-stained boots back on until they can get this stuff laundered, but Andy’s right. Even with the bullet hole, they’re still really good boots. Maybe she can duct-tape the hole. Wet feet are the worst.

She’s thrilled when she checks out to find that her part of the tab is only twenty Euros-- not that they don’t have the money, but a bargain’s awesome any day. 

Nicky and Joe are looking equally pleased, and Andy looks her usual stoic self, but her bag is bigger than everyone else’s, and her bill is almost forty Euros. Maybe it’s all black leather jackets. 

“Seriously, though,” she asks Joe, as they head in towards the expensive part of the shopping district. “I’ve seen the bank accounts and the inventory of all the priceless stuff you leave lying around. Why not just buy new? Not that vintage isn’t fun, but...”

Joe gives her the look she’s starting to call “Patience, young grasshopper,” then shrugs. “We might need a lot of it all at once some day. Sometimes the only way to resettle a hundred refugees is to build the apartments yourself.” 

It makes sense, she guesses, but Nile and her family never had a lot of money and the urge to live it up a bit is strong. It’s going to take time to get used to the idea that one, they are rich as hell, and two, they still stay in shitty safe houses without reliable heat and hot water, and three, they each have a favorite custom boot maker, and stash spare pairs of boots in all the spider-infested disasters they call homes, right next to the twenty knives and axes. 

“Fifty dollars for a t-shirt is a waste. Fifty dollars for good boots is an investment,” Nicky adds in.

“Five hundred dollars,” Joe corrects gently. 

Nile snorts-- Nicky’s concepts of inflation and prices are completely scrambled. They don’t let him do the food shopping out of self-preservation-- listening to Nicky lose his shit because the good tomato puree in the box is twice the price of everything else is only funny the first five times, and the grocery clerks don’t deserve to be on the receiving end of that rant. 

Up ahead, Andy’s stopped and is waiting for them outside a Doc Martens store. Nile grins at all the colors and styles, though she knows she’ll probably only go as wild as the deep red ones if her conscience doesn’t limit her to only the black ones. 

“They’re not the best, but they’re OK for a half-year,” Andy sniffs, running her finger over the toe of a pair of-- yep-- [plaid Docs](https://n.nordstrommedia.com/id/sr3/c06ce25c-02bc-42f9-9496-ba901f76dabf.jpeg?crop=pad&pad_color=FFF&format=jpeg&trim=color&trimcolor=FFF&w=780&h=838). “It’ll give you time to find out what good kind you like best.”

They leave with both the oxblood and the black pairs, and Nile only feels slightly guilty to have spent so much money. Dizzy had a pair of black Docs she’d kept for nights off-- Nile and everyone else had made fun of her for her bougie-goth boots, but Dizzy had glared and said “these boots are five years old, motherfucker! You Payless, you get less.”

She guesses now that Dizzy was right-- spend the money on stuff that can last, and don’t waste it on everything else. And Nicky’s right. Fifty dollars for a t-shirt? That’s some ignorant shit.

**Author's Note:**

> [The Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Economic Injustice.](https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Sam_Vimes_Theory_of_Economic_Injustice)
> 
> And yes, you should be listening to Macklemore whilst reading this.


End file.
